


After The War

by sunflowerday



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Putting themselves back together after the war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 19:18:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10497780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowerday/pseuds/sunflowerday
Summary: A collection of short chapters focusing on the Arc V kids trying to get back to normal after the war. Alternate Ending where all of the Dragon Boys and Bracelet Girls get their bodies back.I will add characters, ships, and other tags as they become relevant!





	

Shun blinked. He blinked again trying to comprehend, trying to convince himself that he was really seeing them, that he wasn’t imagining it. He staggered forward. Was that really Yuto? And was Ruri… his little sister Ruri… really there holding Yuto’s hand? Dimly he was aware of other people on stage that hadn’t been there before and that there was yelling and excitement all around him, but he could hardly hear or process any of it. There were only two things, two people, two lights, that he could concentrate on. 

Shun ran. What if they disappeared again? What if his hands pass right through them? What if… it wasn’t them? 

He tripped over the step, falling to his knees just as Yuto and Ruri looked back at him. They were crying, they were both crying, was he crying?

“R-Ruri! Yuto!” Shun gasped out as he forced himself back to his feet. Ruri reached him first, throwing herself into his arms. Shun almost fell again, still expecting her to vanish, but she didn’t. He gripped her tightly as she sobbed onto his shoulder. She was really here! She was solid and shaking and perfect and in his arms. Finally, finally, here in his arms. 

Shun looked up at Yuto, still standing where Ruri had left him. His smile made Shun’s heart ache. His eyes still carried that haunted look, as if the war was still at his heels, or maybe he still couldn’t quite believe he had a body again. Shun hadn’t let himself even think that Yuto wouldn’t come back, but in those few quiet moments and in his sleep, he panicked endlessly that Yuto would be trapped in Yuya’s mind forever. Or even… that all this time he’d been dead. But now, now he was here. Same as Ruri. He had to be as real as Ruri.

Shun held out a hand to Yuto. For a second Yuto hesitated. He stared at Shun’s hand as tears spilled over in earnest. Yuto stumbled forward, taking Shun’s hand in his. Shun couldn’t help but laugh. He was real, real, real. The warmth of his hand, the scars he could feel under his fingers, it was the same. Shun yanked Yuto closer, dragging him into a hug. Ruri laughed and wrapped an arm around Yuto as he took her place on Shun’s other shoulder. Shun rested his cheek against the side of Yuto’s face as Ruri gently brushed away the tears under Shun’s eyes. 

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that or even most of what happened that day after Ruri and Yuto came back. All he remembered for sure was that he held onto them and wouldn’t let go, not even when they finally managed to sleep. They slept like they used to during the war: together. They ended up doing that for months before they were able to sleep separately again without waking up in a panic to find one of the three missing. 

Still it was hard for Shun to be apart from them for any amount of time. There was that lingering fear. If he turned around would Yuto still be there? If he went into the next room would Ruri be gone? As they worked to put Heartland back together, Shun was reminded every day how quickly they could be ripped away. Ruri and Yuto always seemed to know when it got too overwhelming for Shun. One or both of them would grab his hand or hold him until he was grounded again. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just… dammit I don’t mean to do this every time…” Shun apologized as Yuto pulled him into his house.

“It’s okay, I’m right here, I’m still here,” Yuto said, trying to calm Shun down.

“No it’s not okay. I can’t expect you just to stay at our house all the time and after you moved back into your own house—”

“Shun, shush for a second I already started packing and I’m going to be coming back over. I told Ruri—“

“Wait what?” Shun exclaimed, “What do you mean you’re coming back? You don’t have to do that just because I can’t… handle this.”

Yuto sighed, “Shun you can be really tiring sometimes.” 

Shun flinched and started to back away as he said, “That’s why you should stay here and—“

“No! No, god, sorry that’s not what I meant. Shun. Shun!” Yuto said as he reached up and grabbed Shun’s face, forcing him to look at him. 

“I’m not just doing it for you I’m doing it for me too! I can’t stand to be away from you two either that’s why I’m coming back. I remember that I’m _me_ when we’re together. You don’t know how many times I’ve just… stopped moving, because I forget I can. Or… or when I just fade… I lose minutes or hours I don’t even know. I just… forget I’m _here_ ,” Yuto said, his voice shaking. Shun frowned and put a hand over Yuto’s. Yuto dragged in a breath and continued. “It’s the same for Ruri, you know she’s trying to deal with all this too. We all need each other right now… and that’s fine. We all understand, so please, you don’t have to apologize for any of this.”

This time Shun sighed. Yuto was right. Of course Yuto was right, he always was. Hadn’t he walked in on Ruri plenty of times to find her crying silently? Or when she followed him from room to room holding onto his hand, his shirt, whatever she could hold? Hadn’t he seen Yuto stop halfway across a room or motionlessly stare at his cards as Shun waited for his next move? Thinking that Yuto wasn’t sure which card to play when he really had been waiting for someone else to play the card. Shun leaned down and hugged Yuto’s small frame. 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Shun said as Yuto squeezed him back. As they drew away Yuto quickly kissed Shun on the cheek, making him jump in surprise. Yuto grinned at Shun mischievously, as if daring Shun to say something about it. Instead Shun just felt his face heat up.

“All right now help me get the rest of this packed up, okay?” Yuto said as he grabbed a shirt he had dropped on the ground. Shun stared after him for a second before a slow smile stretched across his face. They were going to make it through. All three of them. They were going to be okay. And until they were okay… he was going to stay by their sides. And probably long after that. Shun grabbed a book of duel theories off the chair and tossed it into Yuto’s bag.

“Okay.”


End file.
